...

Blaze had his team out searching the grounds. He had gotten the message from Ozpin asking for them to search for his son. Apparently the kid was lost in a flashback and was unable to be snapped out of it. The Headmaster didn't know what exactly had triggered it. If they found him he should send a message to Ozpin.

It was too bad that Navy had not had any physical contact with the kid. If he did then they could use his semblance to track Oscar. So instead they split up and searched the grounds and lower levels of the buildings.

Blaze was out in the grounds doing his search. Carefully he did a grid search looking for any signs of Oscar. He hoped that he didn't go into the forest. Even close to the school was the chance of Grim. From his understanding Oscar had been through enough trauma without adding a Grim attack to it.

At the end of the grid search of the forest he was about to head back towards the school. That was until he heard a quiet sniffle that sounded like a child trying not to cry. Blaze turned around listening closer now. His tracker instincts kicked into full gear.

A quiet sniffle sounded again. It was close but because of the trees he couldn't see where it was. For a moment he considered using his semblance but he wasn't sure if it would trigger a bad reaction. In the end he didn't use his semblance instead he slowly made his way closer.

Blaze looked around the trees to ensure no one was behind them. It did take ten long moments but he did finally find the boy. His legs were pulled up to his chest and his face was buried into his knees. There were shudders coming off Oscar making it obvious he was still struggling.

"Hey there," Softly called out Blaze causing the boy to jump in surprise and fear, "It's okay I'm not going to hurt you. Your dad sent me with some of the professors to find you."

Glazed hazel eyes jumped up to look at him looking for something. He questioned, "Who are you? You don't look like a member of the Atlas Military?"

Blaze bent down so that he was eye level with Oscar and said, "That's because you're not in Atlas. We are at Beacon Academy and I'm the Team Leader for BRND as a third year."

Oscar looked around them for a long moment. His hazel eyes were clearing up no longer glazed over in memories.

A frown crossed his face as he said, "There's no snow and it's warm. We'll warmer than it was before. I'm at Beacon?"

A small smile crossed Blaze's face as he said, "That's right. You gave old Ozpin quite the scare. He has the entire staff looking for you and asked my team to help."

"Why?"

Blaze sat on the grass as he pulled out his scroll. Something told him that showing the kid a secret would allow a small amount of trust to build between them. That and he was almost completely certain the kid wouldn't rat him out.

Oscar with a slightly wary look he moved closer to Blaze. He showed the boy how he could change his studnet ID to an unknown one. This would allow him to leave and enter the school without alerting Ozpin or Goodwitch. He and his team had used the trick many times to leave the school.

The wariness left the boy's eyes and was replaced by interest. Within a few moments Blaze was explaining how to hack. This brought the kid out of his shell completely and had him asking questions.

A ping sounded on his phone after a few moments. It was from his teammates reporting that they hadn't found the kid. Oops he should probably let them and Ozpin know that he found it.

He said looking at Oscar, "Hey I think we should head back to Beacon. No one else knows that you've been found. They are still looking for you."

Oscar looked up from the scroll momentarily. Then he nodded to himself and pushed himself to his feet. Blaze followed suit and got to his feet and led the way back to Beacon. As they made their way back he sent a message to Ozpin letting him know that they were on their way back.

Ten minutes later found them walking out of the forest. Ozpin and the other professors were waiting for them as was his team. When Ozpin saw the kid relief was evident on his face.

Blaze immediately reported, "I found him fairly deep in the forest. He was lucky that there weren't any Grim nearby today. But the kid isn't injured."

Ozpin said sincerely, "Thank you, Kuru. I'll take it from here."

"Alright teach," grinned Blaze, "Let me know if you need anything else. Kid come find me if you want to learn."

The last part was sent with a wink at Oscar and the tiny child grinned in response. It was good to see him smile. Having Oscar closed off was not something he wanted to see again.

...

Oscar followed his father back into the Tower. At seeing the Tower a shudder went through him. One he couldn't hide no matter how much he tried. Memories of fire and pain resonated through him as he remembered how Ozpin died.

Looking up through the fringe of his hair at his father he thought about the man's death. The Fall of Beacon was not for another two years, not until the 40th Vytal Festival. Two years was not enough time for him. He didn't have a plan or anyone he could ask for help.

Asking Ozpin was out of the question. There was little chance of him believing Oscar. More likely than not he would think everything up to that point had been a lie. That Oscar was a spy for Salem.

A shudder ran through him. After seeing his predecessor's memories of Salem, of how he died at her hands, he wouldn't blame Ozpin for the assumption. It was incredibly difficult to trust anyone after being betrayed so many times.

Ozpin led him straight to the elevator and to his surprise they didn't go up to his father's office. Instead they went to his apartment and he was left in the on the couch. Almost as soon as he sat down he felt exhaustion fill him.

Everything about the day had been draining. He leaned against the couch and closes his eyes. Footsteps sounded in the kitchen telling him Ozpin was working on something. He focused on calming his thoughts and forcing his body to relax. In and out deep measured breaths to keep his mind off the memories.

Oscar startled when something cold was pressed against his forehead. When he opened his eyes he found Ozpin had placed a rag against his forehead. In his other hand was a mug of coffee. He knew what his father wanted but he wasn't sure if he could bring himself to have this conversation.

By the look on Ozpin's face he didn't have much of a choice.